WASHINGTON — For President Donald Trump, Kim Jong Un may be the deal that got away.
Trump and his team weathered insults, tolerated unanswered phone calls and waited hours for negotiating partners who never showed up as they sought to keep the planned Singapore summit with Kim on track.
With prospects dimming and aides increasingly skeptical, Trump at first clung to his plans to meet with the North Korean leader, seeking to pull off what the president saw as a history-making nuclear deal. A self-professed master negotiator, Trump could envision Nobel laurels in the offing of the unprecedented one-on-one meeting. Eager for a dramatic moment and a bold accomplishment, Trump agreed to Kim’s March overture for a summit in less than an hour, ignoring the warnings of seasoned advisers who said it could backfire.
But on Thursday morning, Trump determined that — for now anyway — the meeting was an unrequited diplomatic dream, his hopes appearing to dissolve in a tale of broken promises.
Late Wednesday, Trump had been briefed on the latest round of increasingly belligerent messages from North Korea, including a threatened “nuclear-to-nuclear showdown.” It confirmed the mounting suspicions of the president’s aides that North Korea was not serious about the talks. Before taking action, Trump decided to sleep on it. The next morning, he consulted with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton before deciding to scrap the summit.
He dictated a letter to Kim that at times felt like a wistful plea for what might have been. “I felt a wonderful dialogue was building up between you and me,” Trump wrote. “Some day, I look very much forward to meeting you.” (AP)